Distilled Water for batteries

[blueb]

Is the water which is collected in my dehumidifier suitable for topping up my Bosch batteries? It is obviously distilled but I am not sure about de-ionisation or if that is even important.

Thanks for any help.

 

[aquaplane]

The water off my dehumidifier used to have fluff and all sorts in it so I would think not.

The ice from the freezer is distilled too, but that has breadcrumbs off the fish fingers and frozen peas in it.

In hard water areas I would use the stuff they sell in the chemists for use in steam irons.

In soft water areas I do use tap water, for the minimal amount I use it makes so little difference as to be not worth bothering about.

 

[steve28]

yes, its fine.

been using it for years with no problems.


steve

 

[Anonymous]

I also find fluff and dust in my dehumidifier tray and since battery water from the supermarket is around €0.50 for five litres I don't take the risk. Even if you filter out the dust there is a chance that the dust itself has soluble constituents. Just not worth the risk unless you are stranded on a desert island and have no alternative.

 

[blueb]

Many thanks for that Steve.

 

[Two Sheds]

I use it all the time in batteries, the steam iron and to clean the visor of my motorbike helmet. It can of course be grungy, but I when I want to harvest some I clean out the reservoir it collects in first so it is pretty clean.

BTW, call me a pedant but I think that water collected in a dehumidifier may be "deionised", rather than "distilled". Others may know more, or better.

Martin

 

[VicS]

It is not generally recommended! Nor is rainwater.

Distilled means the water has been boiled or evaporated and the steam or vapour condensed. A physical process.

Deionisation or demineralisation is a chemical process in which the water is passed through ion exchange resins. A cation exchange resin in the acid or "H" form removes the cations; sodium, calcium, magnesium, potassium etc releasing hydrogen ions in their place. An anion exchange resin in the hydroxyl "OH" form removes the anions; chloride, sulphate, nitrate etc leaving OH ions in their place.
(bicarbonate ions may be removed between these two stages as carbon dioxide by air scrubbing otherwise in the same way as the other anions)

Hey presto all the cations removed and all the anions removed, while the released hydrogen ions and hydroxyl ions get together and just end up as water molecules!

A little more complex in practice but essentially that's it.

Distillation effectively removes all the dissolved solids deionisation removes the ionised solids, but that is for our purposes everything that matters.

 

[steve28]

but isnt that what a dehumidifier does, condenses the humid air back in to water ?

steve

 

[alexrunic]

stop being tight and by some its less than a pound a bottle is it really worth the risk and hassle. Vics has given a good tecnical reason for it too.